Free carbon calculator for small craft brewers

A free calculator created by a team led by the University of Leeds - downloadable as an Excel document from figshare website – will enable breweries to find out to what extent their operations are sustainable. There is wide variation in the carbon emissions produced by craft brewers, with packaging playing a key role. Beer distributed in 20 liter steel kegs has a carbon footprint seven times smaller than that distributed in 330 ml glass bottles – 205 versus 1,483 grams of CO2 equivalent per liter of beer. As independent brewers show signs of a comeback after lockdown, researchers want to help these small and medium-sized businesses develop best practices when it comes to sustainability and reducing carbon emissions. A research paper accompanying the carbon calculator - Development of an open source carbon footprint calculator for the UK Craft Brewing value chain - was published in the Journal of Cleaner Production. (Darren)